nykill
Middle Norwegian
editEtymology
editPossibly with dissimilation from Old Norse lykill (“key”),[1] from Proto-Germanic *lukilaz. If so, it would be a doublet of lykel. The initial n- might be from an Old Norse verb hnúka (“to sit cowering”).[2] Compare the same shift in Old Swedish nykil and Old Danish nykil (modern Swedish nyckel and Danish nøgle), but not in Icelandic lykill, Faroese lykil and also Norwegian Nynorsk lykel.
Noun
editnykill m
- a key
Descendants
edit- Norwegian: nykel, nøkkel; (dialectal) nykil, nykyl, nykkel, nyggel, nøyel
- → Norwegian Bokmål: nøkkel